Wherever you are today, is the sum total of how far you have grown in life. The reason why you may not have realized certain dreams and desires today can be explained by the gap between where you are today and where you need to grow to be able to realize those dreams and aspirations. Therefore growing ourselves is very critical if we need to be all the best versions of ourselves in life.
You cannot continue to rely on what you learned 10 years ago in school as a professional. You need to constantly upgrade your skill to match the demands of a rapidly changing world. It is said that the lessons we are given in school are not things that carry us through life.
Those are just things that give us the basic tools to face the real world outside the classroom walls
When we talk about growing, we are referring to personal development. By its very nature, personal development is what we must take personal responsibility for. There are things in life you must take personal responsibility for. For example, no one can eat on your behalf, no one can exercise on your behalf, no one can grow your muscle on your behalf, no one can develop you on your behalf. You would need to take personal responsibility for it
In this article, I like to share with you why we must take responsibility for our personal development and also the gains that come with it
The first reason to develop yourself is to be able to fulfill your life, dreams and goals . Without growth you will limit yourself in terms of your ability to realize your goal. For instance my husband and I struggled financially a while until we started developing, reading and training in investments and now the dividends are obvious.
Secondly, growth and self development will help you to reach your true potential. For instance, I never knew I could become a nurse to be able to help clients and families in the area of health care. So if I did not grow myself and develop professionally to become a nurse, I would have died with that potential.
Realizing that potential has also helped me to miss some of my personal health needs, my financial needs, and that of my family.
Thirdly, taking personal responsibility for our self development will increase our value to ourselves and to others .Still using my nursing example as an illustration, today by becoming a nurse, I have become more valuable to myself I can take better care of my health, and I have become more valuable to my family, my clients and their families because I can be of help to them in the capacity that I would never have been able to do if I did not take the responsibility of growing and developing myself in that career.
Let’s quickly talk about tips to help us develop ourselves
One, first identify the areas of your life you want to develop. It could be in areas of your health, finance,relationships both professional and spiritual
First find books to read in the areas you want to develop and begin to read them. Don’t keep them as souvenirs. The challenge with some people is that they buy books but they never get to read them. Others have challenges with time to read even though they want to do so. I was like that many years ago until I discovered an alternative way of reading through audiobooks. I will listen to those books on my way to work and in traffic. You can do the same
Thirdly, look for a mentor in that area and get connected to such a mentor. There are many ways to do this. For some people they think they have to have a personal one on one connection with such a mentor. If you can afford to do so great but you don’t necessarily have to, you can follow and mentor from a distance by just reading the books they have written, listening to their teachings or listening to their Podcasts or watching their videos. My husband and I have done this in some areas of our lives and we have experienced tremendous growth without having met such a Mentor on one on one
The last one is to start taking baby steps to attempt some of the things you are learning . Today I know a number of people who started by listening and following after people and Mentors and also got trained, and became professionals as business analyst, project managers, cyber security experts and the list goes on and on
You may be there reading this and going through a stage in your life where you think you can be more than who you are or you can be more valuable. I really believe you can have a greater impact and you can be wealthier, healthier and also contribute more to lives..If you are feeling stuck or feeling stagnated you may be feeling you need to be developed. The simple solution to it is to be intentional about your personal development by taking personal responsibility for it.
Taking personal responsibility will have to defy all excuses. Regina Brett said no matter how you feel , get up dress up and show up
I also want to say show up in that classroom, buy that book, read it, self develop, grow and fulfill your destiny.
As I conclude , I have shared with us some of the reasons why we must take personal responsibility for our personal development. I also shared some tips on how to develop ourselves.
